Many programs for personal computers allow "free form" placement of graphic objects within a document or window. This allows a user to place objects at any desired position within the document without requiring the objects to be aligned in rows or columns.
Free form object placement is useful in many different types of programs. For example, presentation and drawing programs allow a user to create various types of graphs, charts, pictures, etc. by placing various objects (e.g., circles, rectangles, lines, text, etc.) in the document. Database programs allows users to create custom reports and forms by arranging labels, text, lines, etc. to meet their specific requirements.
After objects are placed in a document, a user may want to select one or more objects in order to perform various functions on them. For example, once an object is selected, it may be deleted, duplicated, moved, resized, or edited in some other fashion. In many cases, a user may want to select a group of objects and perform the same function on them simultaneously.
In most graphic operating systems and application programs, a single object is selected by moving the mouse so that the mouse cursor points to the object, and then clicking (i.e., pressing and releasing) the appropriate mouse button. An object may be moved by dragging (i.e., moving the mouse while holding down the mouse button) the object and dropping it (i.e., releasing the mouse button) at the desired location. A file associated with an icon may be executed or opened by double clicking on the icon associated with the file.
In the prior art, a group of objects may be selected in one of two ways. One method requires the user to click on the first object and then to hold down the SHIFT key (on the keyboard) while clicking on the other objects that are to be selected. The second method allows a user to selected a group of adjacent objects by dragging the mouse to form a rectangular selection box around the desired objects. Depending on the parameters of the specific program, the selected objects will include those that are contained entirely within the box, or those that intersect the box. In order to select all of the objects that lie approximately in a row or column, the user must drag the mouse to draw a box that extends across the entire width or length of the document. This can be somewhat tedious if the document is wider than the area visible in the displayed window.
Some application programs, such as spreadsheets, require that data be entered in cells that are arranged in rows and columns. In these application programs, the user may select all of the cells that lie in a row or column with a single click of the mouse button. For example, to select a column of cells, the user moves the mouse cursor to an area immediately above the desired column, and clicks the mouse button. Likewise, a row of cells is selected by moving the mouse cursor to an area immediately to the left of the desired row and clicking the mouse button. This allows a user to select an entire row or column regardless of whether the row or column extends beyond the edge of the display and includes objects that are not visible in the displayed window.
Entire rows and columns may be easily selected in application programs that require data to be arranged in rows and columns. However, programs that allow free form placement of objects do not provide a simple method of selecting all of the objects that lie approximately in a row or column. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method for selecting a plurality of free form objects that lie along vertical or horizontal selection lines.